Building activity still at relatively high levels

Despite the challenges faced over the course of 2018, ABS figures for the September 2018 quarter indicate that building activity was still at a relatively high level. Residential building activity was 4.1% higher than the same period a year earlier, with non-residential building seeing growth of 2.3% over the same period.

Interestingly, the latest figures show that the immediate pipeline of work in residential building was very large. A total of 227,186 new dwellings were under construction at the end of September 2018 with a further 36,274 dwellings having received approval but awaiting the start of work on this date.

With the approvals and finance data discussed above pointing to a sharp reduction in new home starts during 2019, the completion of work on projects already started will still keep residential building busy in the opening months of 2019 at least.